Katimavik now in Wolfville

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Advertiser

Katimavik, Canada’s leading national youth service program, is well underway in Wolfville this fall.

Participants aged 17 to 21 from across Canada are volunteering five days a week with a number of non-profit organizations in the community - the Wolfville Library C@P lab, Wolfville School’s playground improvements, the Flower Cart, L'Arche Homefires’ day program and the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts.

“I feel privileged to be in Wolfville,” project leader Adrienne Gasior, a Saskatchewan native, says, “in this beautiful and friendly community that extends a warm welcome to our Katimavik program. I am excited for the participants to learn about the community and its culture. This will be a valuable experience for the participants, myself and community members.”

The group, comprised of seven women and four men, live in a house rented by Katimavik, with supervision by Gasior. She is looking for host families in the town for later this month. Participants, she says, are billeted for a 10-day period to gain a different experience of life in Wolfville. Katimavik is looking for families who are willing to host participants between Nov. 20 and 29.

“Here is your chance to get to know a young person, who is presently volunteering in your community, while introducing them to your way of living.”

As part of the program, participants stay with a host family to better understand their reality and culture. For some, billeting is also an excellent opportunity to benefit from a full-fledged linguistic immersion.

Gasior can be reached at 542-9848 or wolfville@katimavik-atl.org. She would be happy to discuss the opportunity and adds, “each family that hosts a Katimavik participant receives a stipend to offset costs.”

Between now and June, Wolfville will host two more Katimavik groups of 11 young Canadians, each staying for approximately three months. Participants are developing leadership skills through involvement in community events. Gasior encourages community members to provide suggestions and information about events and activities which could benefit participants.

The first Katimavik group arrived in Wolfville Sept. 26 and will live in the community until the end of November before heading to Kelowna, B.C. to continue its nine-month program.

Sidebar:

Headline: About Katimavik

Katimavik promotes civic engagement and fosters sustainable communities through challenging national youth service programs.

Since 1977, Katimavik has enabled nearly 30,000 Canadians to be involved in more than 2,000 communities throughout Canada. Participants between the ages of 17 and 21 live with 10 other youth from across the country in two or three communities. They commit to six or nine month programs, volunteer 28 to 35 hours a week for a variety of non-profit organizations and also benefit from Katimavik’s structured learning program that focuses on the development of lifelong personal, professional and social competencies in civic engagement, healthy lifestyle, cultural discovery, official languages, communication, environmental stewardship and project coordination.

WEBLINKS

www.katimavik.org